A meditation at Kintore College, Toronto by Fr. Eric Nicolai on March 29, 2021. St. John the Evangelist gives us the account of Jesus' arrival at Bethany with Lazarus, Mary and Martha. He felt at home. Mary took this alabaster jar and broke it open. She did not carefully pry open the vessel, and simply offer a few drops. She was not stingy. She did not hold back. She did not keep any for herself, or for a future occasion. She gave it all. She is an example of generosity, magnanimity, and magnificence in the way she humbly anointed the Lord’s feet. The hole room was filled with the aroma of that perfume.

Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.

Thumbnail: Detail from Bernardino Luini, Mary Magdalen c. 1525 (National Gallery of Art Washington, DC)